Page 104 of Alpha Heat

Xan picked at his food, pushing it around the plate, his mind clearly elsewhere. Urho wondered if Xan had gotten through to his parents this morning. Xan had been holed up in his office until breakfast, as far as Urho knew, while he’d been so busy dealing with the patient and handling the hygiene orders for the servants.

“Are you listening?” Jason asked gently.

Urho blinked at him. “I’m sorry?”

“Never mind. You look exhausted.” Jason went back to his breakfast, always able to pack away more food than Urho could manage in a full day.

Xan sat upright, tense, and radiating silent anxiety. Xan didn’t meet his gaze, still focused on shoving around his eggs. Urho took a long swallow of his coffee, smiled at Jason, and said, “Forgive me. I’m tired. But please, ask the question again?”

“I’d wondered if you’d spoken with the local hospital and whether they had a place for Janus there. Obviously we want you to deliver the baby, not a stranger at the hospital.”

“Jason would lose his mind,” Vale whispered, sipping his prescribed tea—the same that Urho was forcing down every gullet in the house—and looking quite pale with worry.

“Don’t fret,” Urho encouraged him. “It’s all going to be fine.”

Xan’s fork banged against his plate, but he said nothing.

“So the hospital will take him?” Jason asked.

“No.” Urho sighed. It would have been so much easier for him if they had, but he couldn’t fault their reasoning. “They’ve asked us to keep him here. He’s contagious and the hospital is small. They’d endanger their already weak patients bringing him in. So, with him in the detached wing and all of you drinking strengthening tea and practicing good hygiene, we should get along just fine with him here.” Urho hoped that was true.

“Especially since you’re a doctor,” Xan said with a heavy sigh. He shoved away from the table, flopping back in his chair miserably. He stared up at the ceiling with a pinched brow.

“What are you going to do about your family?” Urho asked gently.

Jason stopped eating, and Vale went very still, both of them wearing expressions of concern.

“I spoke to my father’s assistant,” Xan snarled, obviously stung that his father hadn’t come to the phone to talk with him directly. But if his pater really was sick, then it was unlikely Doxan Heelies would leave hisÉrosgápefor any reason. Even to talk with his only alpha son. “He says Ray has taken a turn for the worse and Pater is…” His voice gave out on him, and he sat forward enough to take a sip of his water. Then he simply shook his head and said no more.

“You should go to them,” Jason urged, his blue eyes wide and earnest. “You were always your pater’s favorite. If he’s that sick, you shouldn’t risk remaining estranged.”

Xan swallowed spasmodically and his voice sounded tight. “Father ordered me to stay away.”

“Your father is an asshole—and worse, he’s wrong,” Jason spat. “He’s kept you from your pater this entire year and for what? Because he’s always been jealous of you, that’s why.”

“No…” Xan flushed red, and Urho wanted to reach across the table to protect him from whatever he was about to confess. “It’s because of the rumors.”

“There have always been rumors,” Jason said, waving it all aside. “He’s jealous of how your pater adores you.Érosgápecan be unreasonably possessive even against their own children sometimes.”

Vale rubbed his stomach thoughtfully again, a frown marring his forehead.

“Don’t worry,” Jason said, placing a hand on Vale’s belly too. “I won’t be like that.”

“I hope not.”

Xan rolled his eyes and snapped, “Fine. Maybe my father is a jerk. Not everyone has perfect parents like yours, or a pater so accepting of perversions.”

Jason’s eyes gleamed smartly. “Your pater has never given a single wolf-goddamn about what you do in bed and you know it.” He pointed at Xan with his fork. “He caught us that time when I was staying at your house while my parents went to the beach alone. He pretended he saw nothing.”

Xan squirmed in his seat, his cheeks growing even redder. “Don’t talk about that!”

“We all know about you and Jason,” Vale said calmly. “You two don’t have to pretend it never happened. Urho and I used to fuck too. As everyone here is aware.”

Urho shot Vale a silencing glance as Xan scrubbed at his face. Vale rolled his eyes.

“Yes, let’s all stop pretending now,” Jason agreed, his jaw set in that stubborn way Urho was all too familiar with from Jason’s early days of courting Vale. “And let’s stop pretending that the reason you didn’t catch the first train this morning was because you want to respect your father’s wishes. The truth is, you’re scared to face him.”

Xan’s angry, hot eyes flashed at Jason as he clenched his fists. He opened and shut his mouth, like he was looking for the right retort, but his expression crumpled. He covered his face with his balled up fists, hiding. “Maybe I am. How many times have you confronted the possibility of losing everything?”